Circuit level implementation of the Reduced Quantum Genetic Algorithm using Qiskit

Abstract

Genetic Algorithm (GA) are common probabilistic optimization methods inspired by the process of natural selection. Quantum computers promise substantial speedups over conventional machines, and libraries allow the emulation of circuits on a quantum computer in different highly configurable noise models and even run on quantum computers. Therefore, we need to analyze this class of heuristic methods in the quantum context. We propose a circuit level implementation of the Reduced Quantum Genetic Algorithm (RQGA) using Python and Qiskit. Our main goal is to analyze the circuit complexity from the perspectives of the number of qubits required and the number of quantum gates used. To achieve our goal, we instantiate the framework for solving the knapsack problem, examine the results in a simulated environment, and analyze the circuit's complexity.